Marketing has always been a crucial part of a business. Social media marketing is a recent addition to organizations’ integrated marketing communications plans. Integrated marketing communications is a principle organizations follow to connect with their targeted markets. Integrated marketing communications coordinates the elements of the promotional mix advertising, personal selling, public relations, publicity, direct marketing, and sales promotion. Increasingly also viral marketing campaigns are grouped to integrated marketing communications. In the traditional marketing communications model, the content, frequency, timing, and medium of communications by the organization is in collaboration with an external agent, advertising agencies, marketing research firms, and public relations firms. However, the growth of social media has impacted the way organizations communicate. With the emergence of Web 2.0, the internet provides a set of tools that allow people to build social and business connections, share information and collaborate on projects online.

Good companies have become great on the sheer basis of effective marketing strategies. In the era of huge competition, organizations are going great length to advertise and promote their products and earn valuable customer loyalty. The concept of marketing has kept evolving with the passage of time. Companies are forced to adopt new changes in their marketing strategies to remain relevant. If there is one factor that has really affected the way marketing plans are being defined then it must be technology.

Social Media Marketing In the new century, the marketing tools of earlier years were rendered obsolete. Those who manage to anticipate the changes and adopt them quickly have better chances of survival. Social media marketing is one such great change that many companies have started to accept in a big way. Though, it is still in a nascent stage but canny marketing strategists are already harping onto the next big marketing revolution taking place in form of social media marketing.